For those who have certain medical issues such as congenital hip defects or Cerebral Palsy, or for those who have had certain types of surgery such as hip surgery, it is often desired or required to limit certain movements of their legs and to control abduction and scissoring of the legs. Prior devices used in controlling abduction and scissoring of the legs have been limited to rigid braces, wedge-shaped pillows, and leg braces with limited rotational abilities.
Rigid braces included a rigid bar separating cuffs that attach around a patient's (user's) thigh. Such rigid braces provide no ability for the patient to reposition their legs. A device called a hip and knee abductor is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,362,305 to Varn. The hip and knee abductor disclosed in Varn is an improvement over the rigid braces, as it includes a fixed degree of angular movement of the cuffs through the use of a pivot. In the described device, there is an adjustable distance between the cuffs, but once adjusted, this distance is fixed and constant.
It has been found that the hip and knee abductor devices of the past are not comfortable for many patients as they provide no ability to move one's legs inward or outward and provide no ability to adjust the degree of angular movement of the cuffs.
What is needed is a hip and knee abductor that provides flexibility to move one's legs inward or outward and provides an adjustable degree of angular movement.